The patent document 1 discloses an example of the library device which houses a plurality of computer-readable recording media and reads/writes data from/to the housed recording media. FIG. 3 shows an example of the structure of the library device related to the present invention that is shown in this patent document 1. FIG. 3 is a plan view (top view) of the library device, viewed from the upper side.
In the library device shown in FIG. 3, a drive device 1, a control device 2, and a power supply device 3 that are electrically connected via a backboard 4 are disposed at the rear side. These devices 1 to 3 are directly connected to the backboard 4 and can be installed from the rear side of the library device. In FIG. 3, each of the devices 1 to 3 can be removed in an arrow direction shown in FIG. 3. The control device 1 is connected to one backboard 4 but the drive device 1 and the power supply device 3 share one backboard 4.
In the library device shown in FIG. 3, a magazine 6 is mounted at the left side and the right side (a first side and a second side) of the library device. The magazine 6 has a plurality of cells (portions separated by a dashed line in FIG. 3) and each cell houses one medium 7 (for example, a cartridge in which a magnetic tape is packed). These media can be attached to and detached from the magazine 6 and the magazine 6 can be attached to and detached from the library device. The magazine 6 can be installed from the front side of the library device.
In the library device shown in FIG. 3, an accessor mechanism 5 is disposed between two magazines 6. The accessor mechanism 5 can be moved between two magazines 6 from the front side to the rear side or from the rear side to the front side of the library device (in the arrow direction shown in FIG. 3). For example, when an instruction for reading/writing data from/to a specific medium is generated, the accessor mechanism 5 conveys the specific medium. Namely, the accessor mechanism 5 removes the designated medium 7 from the magazine 6 according to the instruction from the control device 2, conveys it to the drive device 1, and inserts it in a slot 10. When the data of the medium 7 has been read or written, the accessor mechanism 5 removes the medium 7 from the drive device 1, conveys it to the predetermined magazine 6 in which the medium has to be housed, and inserts it in the predetermined cell in which the medium has to be housed.